76ers' Harris committed to city

Joshua Harris, left, and David Blitzer, hold New Jersey Devils jerseys with their names during a news conference announcing them as new owners of the team, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013, in Newark, N.J. Harris, the founder of one of the world's largest private equity firms, also owns the Philadelphia 76ers NBA team. (Julio Cortez, Associated Press, )

PHILADELPHIA — Josh Harris opened his wallet last month, making a purchase in Newark, N.J., that caused wheezy, gasping reverberations all the way down I-95.

The 76ers’ majority owner, Harris and his team of financial backers bailed out the bankrupt owner of the New Jersey Devils and bought the NHL franchise Aug. 15. The newfound pairing of Harris and the hockey club prompted questions of whether the New York-based businessman, using a newly entrenched relationship with New Jersey politics, would provoke a move of the Sixers to South Jersey, thus bookending the state with a pair of sports teams.

Not going to happen, said Harris, who on more than one occasion Sunday following the Sixers’ morning session of training camp echoed his commitment to the team and its footing Philadelphia.

“I understand if you are born and bred and live in Philadelphia, I can certainly understand that you’re an all-Philly fan. And so I acknowledge that,” Harris said. “My answer to the fans is, you know, I love the Sixers in Philly. I’m committed to it. I have personal ties in Philly through my mom and in Newark through my dad.

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“The fact that I also own a hockey team in Newark doesn’t change at all my commitment to the city, the Sixers and basketball. I’m here, on a Sunday, with my family. I’ve been at the games. I’ll be at the games. The number of hours I’ve spent putting in place Scott (O’Neil, the Sixers’ CEO) and Sam (Hinkie, the team’s general manager) and Brett (Brown, the Sixers’ coach) was enormous. I’m totally focused on the Sixers and won’t change one iota how driven I am to make this team a championship team.”

In what normally amounts to Harris issuing a preseason State of the Sixers address, he chose to use Sunday’s platform as an opportunity to focus on the team’s business operations.

Dividing his time _ between running the Sixers, the Devils and Apollo Global Management, an investment firm _ requires delegation of responsibility. That’s why it took so long to get a new CEO, GM and coach in place for the Sixers this offseason, Harris said. He said spending money, in the form of maneuvering contracts and making trades, is not a fear. And he’s undeterred by the blunder of the Andrew Bynum deal, affirming that he will make similar acquisitions in the future if it leads to the betterment of the club.

“Sometimes in sports, there’s an element of randomness,” Harris said. “…The decision was fine. I’m a big boy. We’re big boys. We’re adults. We made a decision and it didn’t work out. I’m not discouraged.

“I think we’ve shown we will spend and be aggressive when we see opportunities. It’s very similar to my day job, which (shows) opportunities don’t avail themselves in many ways. … We’re going to position ourselves for all of those opportunities and take advantage of them aggressively. That certainly showed last season. We spent a lot of money and didn’t have a lot of results. We’re big boys. And we’ll do it again if we see the right opportunity.”

Harris did not offer an assessment of what he’s seen on the court in only two days of training camp. And while he said he reserves judgment of the product on the floor for Hinkie and Brown, Harris danced around the notion that what the Sixers have is not the making of a championship-caliber club.

At least not yet.

“We’re really putting the pieces in place to build a strong foundation for a consistently winning, championship-winning team,” he said. “…I’m impatient, but I’m also pragmatic. I understand where we are, if you think about the assets we have today. I’m going to push everyone to get there as soon as possible, but we have to be realistic.”

Harris talked at length about trust — the kind he has in Hinkie to manage the business side of the players, in Brown to “be the general” on the court, and in O’Neil to run the financially motivated business side and answer to a board of directors chaired by Harris.

Harris also addressed the trust Sixers fans have in the club’s front office. It’s not something handed over blindly; rather, it’s something earned. If Harris doesn’t have it quite yet, he said he hopes to attain it soon. Wins usually facilitate said trust, and Harris knows that.

“When you own a sports team, it’s a public trust and winning is really important,” Harris said. “Winning is my primary goal. It’s not necessarily inconsistent, but it can be in the short run. In the long run, it’s not inconsistent. … What we do with the Sixers matters to the city of Philadelphia. We get that. A lot of people are emotionally tied to the Sixers. They stand for greatness in the city.”